Sushovan Hussain has asked a US court to modify his sentence to probation and home confinement in San Francisco, where he has been living in a penthouse apartment for the last two and a half years.

Mr Hussain, 56, was found guilty of fraud on 16 counts in 2018 for his role in the $11.7bn (£9.2bn) sale of FTSE 100 software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

He was found to have manipulated Autonomy’s accounts and was sentenced to five years in prison in May last year. Last month, his attempt to have the conviction overturned failed.

Mr Hussain’s lawyer John Keker has said he will not mount a further challenge. However, he argued the rapid spread of the pandemic in American prisons and Mr Hussain’s extended separation from family members due to travel restrictions meant the sentence would be harsher than intended.

American prisons have severely restricted movement and interaction in their battle with Covid, and around one in 10 of those in federal facilities have tested positive.

Mr Hussain’s lawyers said arriving in prison would mean three weeks of solitary confinement and visits would be restricted, while his age and health conditions made him a risk. They instead proposed a term of probation with home confinement.

Since arriving in the US for trial in 2018, Mr Hussain has been living in a San Francisco apartment which prosecutors say costs around $7,500 a month and is being paid for by Invoke Capital, the venture fund run by Autonomy founder Mike Lynch.

• HP Inc